US approves construction of Cameron Access Project in Southwest Louisiana

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the US has approved construction of the Cameron Access Project in Southwest Louisiana by Columbia Pipeline Group’s (CPG) subsidiary Columbia Gulf Transmission with an investment of $310m.

CPG president Glen Kettering said: "This is an important natural gas infrastructure project that further connects abundant, but constrained, Appalachian supplies to higher value markets.

"The Cameron Access Project is an integral part of the $10-plus billion project backlog that CPG will be executing on over the next several years and, we anticipate, will triple the size of the company by 2020."

Under the Cameron Access Project, improvements would be made to Columbia Gulf’s existing pipeline system, as well as ancillary facilities and a new compressor station near Lake Arthur, Louisiana.

A new greenfield pipeline about 26 mile lateral will also be installed in Cameron Parish that provides direct access to the Cameron LNG export facility.

The project includes binding agreements for over 90% of the 800 million ft³ of new firm transportation capacity.

Expected to begin construction activity in the spring of 2016, the project would be placed in service during the first quarter of 2018.

The latest investment is expected to bring new construction jobs to Southwest Louisiana as well as additional tax revenue to the state and local parishes.

For the project, which will allow additional transportation of gas westward from the existing Columbia Gulf West Lateral, Columbia began to work with landowners in January 2014 to identify the better pipeline route.